It's Official

Well, It's Official...I am a licensed NHRA Driver. It only took 10 1/2 years. We debuted the car in June of 2006, But I was never able to string together 6 decent passes in a years time. What with bouncing the car off the wall on the 3rd time out, The move out to Las Vegas, and and not being able to get it fixed and running for 3 years. Then the car sat here for nearly 2 years until I had the time & money to run the car.

When I bought my trailer in mid 2015, I was able to plan fr a few more outings in 2016. I was never able to get out more than 2 times a year, not including the multi year layoffs. But in 2016, We were able to make it out a record 4 times. Because we could get to the track, and the support of Dawn, Kaleo & Mark...we were able to make enough decent passes to get my ET License.

Now, I must confess something. When I was young I spent many a Saturday night at Martin US 131 Dragway. I was lucky enough to watch all the great West Coast racers like the Snake & Mongoose, Wild Willie Borsch, Kenny Safford & Gary Burgin in Funny Cars... Jeb Allen, Gary "Mr.C" Cochran, Gary Ritter, Larry Dixon Sr., Jim Murphy, Jim Nicoll & Gary Read in Top Fuel....All from California from NHRA Division 7. It was my dream to be able to have a Division 7 competition license. I wanted to see that number start with the number 7. There was no way I could have ever predicted that I would move out to Nevada (Also in Division 7). When I got the car out here, I was able to make that dream come true..

I just received the paperwork from the NHRA, My competition number is 759J . I looked up who had that number in Top Fuel and it was Gary Read, one of my very favorite racers. OK, granted it isn't Top Fuel...But Still......I made it...After a mere 44 years.

NEVER GIVE UP....EVER

A Lucky Guess, Harbor Freight Fails and My Best Ever Runs

Well Well, Well...Its 2017 and we're ready to give'r another go. Saturday January 28th dawned clear and very cold...It did warm up to around 58 which made it perfect. The problem was it was so cold that my high dollar Harbor Freight floor jack decided it was too cold to be of any use....

Once we got it loaded the short 16 mile trip to the track became a 22 mile ordeal. The entrance ramp to highway was closed and we needed to take the scenic route. Just ONCE, I would like to get to the track early enough to get set up and not be rushed.

Tech went great and in a few minutes we were back in the pits to warm it up. Unfortunately Kaleo was unable to join us but kept in touch via phone and text. Have I mentioned how much I love the MSD? The car started right up. It sounded pretty weak so I decided to follow my instinct on what was wrong. I loosened the distributor and proceeded to tune it by ear. I dont trust my timing light (another Harbor Freight fail). I just kept advancing the timing until it sounded stronger and came to life. I shut it of and restarted it a couple times to make sure it was ready....was it ever

I quickly strapped in and we towed to the lanes. I had a nice 45 minute nap while waiting all strapped in. Good thing thing it was cool.

Run # 1: It started easily (for Ol' Blue) and I rolled to the Bleach Box...It was then I noticed that the idle was way too high (2350 rpm, normally 1900-2000) I blistered the tires pretty well and got it backed up with help from fellow racer Scott Krieger. I staged up and left from idle. Holy cow did it move !!! It ran its best 60ft, 30ft, 1/8th mile and 1000 ft times to a personal best of 9.223 @ 144.91 mph. I knew it was a good run and I truly believe  there is more in it.

Run # 2: We refueled, and charged the Battery and lowered the idle rpm...Dawn gave me a piece if chicken for a quick snack. But, once again a long wait in the lanes and now a stupid kid running the lanes chewed us out for his mistake. Regardless it started easy again and it did even a harder burnout.  decided to leave from the lowered idle rpm and it slowed up a bit. I tried short shifting it which hampered me a bit as well. I was feeling pretty happy so I decided to pop the chute for the heck of it....That felt great !! The numbers were 9.59 @ 137 mph....a tad slower, but still quicker than any run before today.

It was getting late so we decided to load up and go home....It was then Harbor Freight let me down again !! The winch messed up and died. So we hand loaded and made it home safely (Note to Myself, Don't use the chute unless you need to...I had to repack it before leaving) I also would like to say how much I like my new Zamp Helmet. It was very comfortable and I could see my gauges perfectly.

Despite the Harbor Freight fails, the detour and Norman of the staging lanes stirring the pot it was a GREAT day !!!

Big Thank You's to Mark for being a fantastic crew guy. He jumped in and was a HUGE help all day and even followed me home to help unload. Thank You Sir.  Thanks to Dawn again...Help, advice, food and pictures...Thank You Friend. You are the best!

Until next time....IJD...out!!